THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 8, 2022 at 18:39 JST
Mikhail Galuzin, Russia's ambassador to Japan, responds to a question at a news conference in Tokyo in February. (Tatsuya Sato)
Following the lead of many European nations, the Foreign Ministry announced April 8 that it was expelling eight Russian diplomats and trade officials.
Hikariko Ono, the ministry press secretary, held a hastily called news conference to announce the measure, but did not divulge names or how long the eight would be barred from Japan.
Takeo Mori, the vice foreign minister, called Russian Ambassador Mikhail Galuzin to the ministry the same day and condemned the killing of innocent civilians in Ukraine, describing the act by the Russian military as “a grave violation of international humanitarian law.”
Mori said the eight Russian officials were being expelled because Moscow “continues to deny killing civilians” and because, “We absolutely cannot accept the propaganda being spread by Russia about what it calls fake news transmitted by the West and Ukraine.”
European nations have been expelling Russian diplomats from March.
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